Hasta La Gadget!

We declared Google’s new flagship tablet, the ASUS-made Nexus 7, to be the best slate that $200 can buy — as well as one of our top choices for students — and while it’s hard to beat the price, we’re going to give four of them away regardless! This week’s contest is all thanks to NVIDIA, the folks behind the quad-core Tegra 3 that powers the Jelly Bean tablet and turns gaming into a smooth and pleasant experience. These little guys are definitely worth a grab, so add a comment to enter!

Continue reading Engadget Giveaway: win one of four Nexus 7 tablets, courtesy of NVIDIA!

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget Giveaway: win one of four Nexus 7 tablets, courtesy of NVIDIA! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn’t nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we’re leaning back with our tablets — and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of August we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — you can hit up the hub page right here!

Your back may be straining from the textbooks, laptop, gym gear and lunch in that dangling overstuffed messenger, but you’re still gonna want to save room for one more item — a tablet. After all, while you can surf, tweet, play games and watch video from your other devices, there’s nothing like doing it from a simple glass window that sits in the palm of your hand. As the hardware gets more powerful, these devices are rapidly becoming versatile enough to let you justify leaving the laptop at home on less-intensive days, so why not check out our picks of the finest devices you should be using and abusing before, during and after class.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: tablets

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s ever been a persistent gripe among families sharing mobile devices, it’s been the absence of multiple user profiles — hand that iPad or Nexus 7 to Junior and you may have to play a spot-the-differences game when it comes back. Some long overdue testing of previously found code references in Jelly Bean shows that Google, at least, has explored ending that anxiety over who uses the family gadgets. Command-line code in AOSP-based versions of Android 4.1 will let you create a separate guest profile, complete with its own lock screen security, home screen layout and limited settings. To say that the code is unpolished would be an understatement, however. Apps and even some notifications cross over from the main account, which could prove more than a little embarrassing if the hardware is left in the wrong hands. At least it’s easy to revert back, as the instructions (and video after the break) show. The real challenge will be waiting to see when — or really, if — Google gets to finishing multi-user code and turns that Nexus 7 into the communal tablet we want it to be.

Continue reading Android 4.1 Jelly Bean proven carrying rough but working code for multi-user support (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Software

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean proven carrying rough but working code for multi-user support (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it’s not the first source code compiled build of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean available for your international model (I9300) Galaxy S III, this stable release from developer Faryaab brings all the latest features without many of the drawbacks. While the release we noted in June was lacking creature comforts like camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, storage and audio, a post on XDA-Developers indicates ROM flashers of this build will have all of those, with the only known casualty so far being “semi-broken” WiFi tethering. To turn that Galaxy S III into a Jelly Bean Galaxy Nexus, you will need to do a factory reset and rock a a custom recovery like ClockworkMod, but otherwise the switch (check out a how-to video from totallydubbedHD embedded after the break) should be straightforward. While this experience is meant to be pure, the developer notes it may not receive many updates going forward before he releases his own “SuperNexus” ROM. So, what’ll it be then — Jelly Bean and Google Now, or S-Voice, TouchWiz and all the rest of the features built into Samsung’s out of the box ICS experience?

Continue reading New AOSP Jelly Bean port for international Galaxy S III available, ‘mostly everything is working’

Filed under: Cellphones

New AOSP Jelly Bean port for international Galaxy S III available, ‘mostly everything is working’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A MIPS-based tablet was the first slate to officially run Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and the processor technology will also beat the crowds to running the new Jelly Bean OS. It might be second to the Nexus 7, but Karbonn Mobiles’ new Smart Tab 1, available to the Indian market only, runs Google’s latest software — and its MIPS-based JZ4770 SoC, clocked at 1.2GHz, allows for the low price of $125. The 7-inch Smart Tab 1 itself isn’t new — it debuted with ICS in July — but current owners will receive an update, and new units will ship with Jelly Bean. Other specs include a 2-megapixel front shooter, HDMI support, 3G support through a USB dongle and up to 32GB of expandable storage via the microSD card slot. Head to the press release past the break for more info.

Continue reading $125 MIPS-based Smart Tab 1 brings Jelly Bean on a budget to India

Filed under: Tablet PCs

$125 MIPS-based Smart Tab 1 brings Jelly Bean on a budget to India originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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